Everything around us has a story, an origin waiting to be discovered. However, local history is seldom recognized on the same level as more far-reaching national and international events. Yet, for students attending school each day, learning these stories connects us to the places in our community.
Pre-colonization, the land where Stelly’s now resides was part of a marshland known as TIKEL, which has shrunk in size but remains today across Wallace Drive to the south of the school. Before being taken over for farming, the land was cultivated by WSANEC peoples for food and medicine. A portion of this land was transferred back to Indigenous stewardship in 2023.
Following colonization, the portion of the land where Stelly’s now resides was owned by prominent Saanich Peninsula settler George Stelly. In 1880, Stelly and neighbouring settler John Sluggett each donated a plot of land adjacent to what is now West Saanich Road to build the first schoolhouse in the Brentwood Bay area. The replacement for the original building was constructed in 1908 and still stands to this day.
Just up the road, Stelly’s Secondary opened on George Stelly’s former property in 1977 to accommodate population growth on the Peninsula.
So, what is the importance of stories such as this? Among youth, history can often be viewed as archaic or unimportant to the issues of today. Despite this, understanding local history can provide benefits; it fosters a deeper connection with the community, works to preserve local heritage, provides context for modern issues and current events, and can encourage civic pride.
With the multitude of benefits to be had, history is more accessible now than ever, with an abundance of online databases, archives, personal accounts, and historical articles. Yet, this renewed accessibility of history has brought about questions as well, with calls to change the names of some locations with colonial connotations, such as Stelly’s Secondary. This process was recently undergone in changing the name of Brentwood Bay’s former Pioneer Park to HEL,HILEC. The original name was chosen to recognize Sluggett and Stelly’s donation of land for the park, but it was later considered to wrongfully imply that European settlers were the first to find the land.
Ultimately, the complexities in just this one story reveal the hidden history behind everyday pieces of our lives. With the storied origin of a simple building, one can’t help but consider the multitude of history around us. What other stories are waiting to be uncovered?